Report of Councillor Phil Cowen, Executive Member for Finance, Revenue & Benefits.

Councillor Cowen the Executive Member for Finance, Revenue & Benefits presented the report.

The papers set out before Members contained this Council’s proposals for the Budget, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Strategy for the financial year 2023-2024. This was the culmination of a process and had been reviewed in accordance with the standing orders of the Council.  Following that review, the final proposals had been tabled at the Cabinet meeting on 6 February 2023.

The proposals had been consulted upon, had been debated and discussed at both Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and during this rigorous and transparent process no amendments had been forthcoming.

As a result, the proposals had been unchanged from those that had been drafted at the end of 2022 with the exception of changes to Settlement and Business Rates income as previously reported.

Budgeting was an exercise in balancing known and assumed, or sometimes unknown or anticipated, variables against a set of choices that this Council made. It was the ‘choices’ element within the equation over which this Council had discretionary control and that, in turn, sets it on a course of action to establish the balanced budget.

Breckland Council had established key overriding priorities (choices) in addition to statutory services, against which its budget must provide funding. These were:

·         Inspiring communities

·         Thriving places

·         Breckland 2035

·         Working smarter

·         Breckland cares

Many authorities around the country had found themselves in challenging positions, and, in some cases, their finances had been compromised but as a result of the detailed work undertaken by Team Breckland, this Council, could propose a balanced budget that allowed it to support both the statutory services that it was tasked with and provide the discretionary services that it had determined as essential for the residents and businesses who lived and worked in Breckland . This budget was not only balanced for the year ahead but also for the following year and was an achievement of which all Members could be proud of.

The details of how this budget had been established were explained.

This was a positive budget statement and placed Breckland Council in an enviable position. The budget proposed that the band D tax level increased to £108.63 per year (just over £2 per week) but some 76% of Breckland homes were within bands A-C and thus the majority of Breckland households who paid the full amount of Council Tax would pay less than £1.86 per week for the statutory services and importantly, the discretionary services that this Council provided.

Councillor Cowen pointed out that when he addressed the Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 26 January to present the draft budget, he had advised that additional Business Rates funding to the value of 500k would be received in the coming year and £1m in the following year 2024-2025. This Council faced significant risks to its budget as a result of the likely business rates reset and the fair funding review but this additional funding had been confirmed after the statutory consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12

Report of Councillor Philip Cowen, Executive Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits.

Councillor Philip Cowen, Executive Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits presented the report that asked members to approve the capital and revenue budget estimates and proposed Council Tax, the medium-term financial plan and the capital strategy.

He was pleased to report that as a result of the detailed work of the Breckland team, that the Council could propose a balanced budget that supported the statutory and discretionary services not only for 2023/2024, but into 2024/2025.

There remained uncertainty with the levels of government funding, fees and charges income and unknown cost pressures but believed that all services could be achieved without using core reserves if the annual council tax was increased by £4.95 for a band D property, although most people in the district would see a smaller rise of less than £1.86 per week for statutory services.

Councillor Hewett said he had heard the challenges that had been faced setting a budget and that it was prudent to be cautious on how to move forward on the decisions that were to be taken for the residents of Breckland.

Councillor Atterwill thanked Councillor Cowen for the presentation and asked if the Devolution Deal for Norfolk would provide a risk to the Council’s budget.

The Chairman said that whilst he had not been appraised to the full detail of the Norfolk  Devolution Deal, he was aware that the investment would be given to the County Council to decide what new activity it would be spent on. 

Options

1)     That the draft capital and revenue budget estimates, the draft medium term financial plan and the draft capital strategy are reviewed.

2)     Do nothing.

Reasons for Recommendations:

To comply with budgetary and policy framework and allow consultation with Members and the public.

RESOLVED to RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL that:

1)          the Breckland revenue estimates and parish special expenses for 2023-24 and outlined position through to 2026-27 (as set out in Appendix B and E of the report) be approved.

2)          the capital estimates and associated funding for 2023-24 and outline position through to 2032-33 (as set out in Appendix H of the report) be approved.

3)          the fees and charges shown at Appendix D and D2 of the report, for adoption on 1 April 2023 be approved.

4)          the Council Tax be set at £108.63 for a Band D property in 2023-24 (a £4.95 per annum increase on 2022-23 levels).

5)          the medium-term financial plan at Appendix A of the report be approved.

6)          the capital strategy at Appendix G of the report be approved.

7)          with effect from 1 April 2024 (subject to the necessary legislation receiving Royal Assent in time) the Long-Term empty property premium for Council Tax is applied after 1 year and the Second Homes Council Tax premium of 100% be applied

8)          the Retail Hospitality & Leisure (RHL) NNDR relief and the Supporting Small Business (SSB) NNDR relief be approved for 2023-24 in line with Government guidelines and criteria.

9)       That the following approach be adopted for the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24